Trade unions representing workers of South Africa’s power utility company, Eskom hope the company will break the stalemate as round three of wage negotiations kicked off on Tuesday May 23, 2023.
The first two rounds ended in frustration when the unions – Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) – failed to convince Eskom to increase its offer of 3.75%.
Collectively, the unions want above-inflation increases of between 10% and 15%.
The trade unions expected wage talks at the Centralised Bargaining Forum to be tough, as Eskom stuck to its guns about a tough financial situation.
But Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola called the power utility’s bluff.
“In the last round of wage talks, the Eskom exco presented financials for 2023/24. The finances presented demonstrate that Eskom can definitely afford to pay workers demands.”
National Treasury granted Eskom a major debt relief package worth over R250 billion over three years.
Hlubi-Majola said this was expected to ease pressure on the embattled state-owned company, with higher tariffs also set to improve its revenue collection.
Negotiations are expected to run until Thursday.
If negotiations collapse now, unions will enter into dispute resolution, followed by conciliation and arbitration processes.
